India vs South Africa 2nd Test Day 1 Highlights – Jan 13, 2018

India vs South Africa 2nd Test Day 1 Highlights – Jan 13, 2018

SA v IND highlights today – Second freedom test from SuperSport Park, Centurion (South Africa) Saturday 13th January 2018. In their first match, VD Philander from South Africa took nine wickets, B Kumar took six wickets and K Rabada took five. AB de Villiers is the most runs scorer so far with 100 runs, HH Pandya scored 94 and F du Plessis 62. It was a low scoring pitch. SuperSport Park Centurion pitch highest total is 620/4d scored by South Africa against India in 2010. Top ten most runs an innings are scored by home team which means they are very strong at this venue. India highest total of the venue is 459.

South Africa won the toss and elected to bat.

India team/playing XI

KL Rahul, M Vijay, CA Pujara, V Kohli (c), RG Sharma, HH Pandya, PA Patel †, R Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, JJ Bumrah, I Sharma.

South Africa team/playing XI

D Elgar, AK Markram, HM Amla, AB de Villiers, F du Plessis (c), Q de Kock †, VD Philander, L Ngidi, KA Maharaj, K Rabada, M Morkel.

ndia tour of South Africa 2nd Test Highlights

Umpires – Michael Gough, Paul Reiffel

TV Umpires – Richard Kettleborough

Match Referee – Chris Broad

Reserve Umpire – Allahudien Paleker

Match number – Test no. 2293

Traditionally, SuperSport Park is as South African as it gets. The surface offers pace and bounce and there is often swing; on the eve of the match, it looked brown with no green grass on it. Things should be no different even though this Test pitch will be groundsman Bryan Bloy’s first since he was hired two years ago. Bloy journeyed to Cape Town last week, along with other members of the SuperSport Park logistics team to observe how Evan Flint and his team went about things and it will be interesting to see if they have picked up any tips on leaving live grass on the strip. Weather in the lead-up to the match has been hot and dry and seem to have burnt the grass on the pitch brown. Temperatures are set to soar during the match, likely to be in the early 30s with no rain forecast, although afternoon thundershowers on the Highveld can never be discounted.

Virat Kohli said there was no need to panic, and didn’t suggest changes in the bowling combination or the composition of the side. The bowlers, including Hardik Pandya, look primed to get another go. India don’t seem to be in a hurry to drop Rohit Sharma based on one Test, which leaves the opening combination up for debate. Kohli said they were going to decide on that after the nets on Friday. Shikhar Dhawan’s alternative – if they so desire – is KL Rahul. A left-field choice could be Parthiv Patel. If used, Parthiv allows India to retain the right-left combination at the top and also opens up a slot in the middle order for Ajinkya Rahane to claim. On Friday, R Ashwin left the nets with an ice pack around his right shoulder after he was hit while taking throwdowns. The team management doesn’t expect it to be serious.

Ottis Gibson’s wish for four seamers means that South Africa may only make one change with one of Chris Morris, Lungi Ngidi, Andile Phehlukwayo and Duanne Olivier to replace Steyn. The choice would appear to be between Morris and Ngidi, as both play their domestic cricket at SuperSport Park. While Morris offers pace, he has not played a first-class game since picking up a back injury in England in August. Ngidi also had back issues but took nine wickets on his return to red-ball cricket and has been in impressive form all summer. The six batsmen strategy will mean no space for either Temba Bavuma or Theunis de Bruyn.